Air Conditioner and Method for Controlling an Air Conditioner

1. An air conditioner, comprising: a plurality of units including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, the plurality of units being distributed at a plurality of levels in a building; a controller configured to monitor and control the plurality of units, wherein the controller and the plurality of units include a communication unit configured to transmit/receive data in a wireless communication scheme, respectively, and wherein one of the plurality of units is configured as a master node, and remaining units except for the unit configured as the master node are configured as slave nodes, wherein the master node stores information on all the units in a routing table, and the slave nodes store information on a parent node and a child node in a routing table to transmit data, when the master node transmits a first data to a second slave node, as a target node among the slave nodes, in a broadcast scheme, and a first slave node, among the slave nodes, receives the first data from the master node: the first slave node transmits the first data to a parent node of the first slave node in a unicast scheme when the second slave node is the parent node of the first slave node, the first slave node transmits the first data to a child node of the first slave node in the unicast scheme when the second slave node is the child node of the first slave node, and the first slave node transmits the first data in a broadcast scheme when the second slave node is not the child node or the parent node of the first slave node, when the first slave node receives a second data from the child node of the first slave node, the first slave node transmits the second data to the parent node of the first slave node in the unicast scheme regardless of whether a target node is the parent node, wherein the target node of the second data is the master node, wherein the slave nodes store only information of the parent node and the child node without storing information of other nodes in a routing table, wherein when data is not received for a first predetermined time or longer, the first slave node determines communication failure to output an error, wherein when the communication failure occurs, the second slave node waits for a second predetermined time to turn-off power and restart, wherein after the second slave node restarts, the second slave node restarts communication, and wherein when the communication failure occurs, a new path for transmitting data is not searched by the mater node or the slave node.

2. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein the master node stores a routing table including address information for the plurality of units.

3. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein the master node confirms an address of a target node being a reception target of data to transmit the data in a broadcast scheme.

4. The air conditioner of claim 1 , wherein the slave node communicates with the parent node at a predetermined time interval to update information on the parent node.

5. A method for controlling an air conditioner the method comprising: configuring one of a plurality of units including an outdoor unit and indoor units, the plurality of units being distributed at a plurality of levels in a building as master nodes and configuring remaining units except for the unit configured as the master node as slave nodes, respectively; storing only information on a parent node and a child node without storing information of other nodes in a routing table by the slave nodes; transmitting, by the master node, a first data to a second slave node, among the slave nodes as a target node, in a broadcast scheme; receiving the first data from the master node by a first slave node among the slave nodes; determining, by the first slave node, whether the second slave node is a parent node or a child node of the first slave node; transmitting, by the first slave node, the first data, to the second slave node in a unicast scheme when the second slave node is determined to be the parent node or the child node of the first slave node; transmitting, by the first slave node, the first data, to the second slave node in a broadcast scheme when the second slave node is determined to not be the parent node or the child node of the first slave node; receiving, by the first slave node, a second data from the child node of the first slave node; transmitting, by the first slave node, the second data to the parent node of the first slave node in a unicast scheme regardless of whether the target node is the parent node, wherein a target node of the second data is the master node; outputting, by the second slave node, a communication error to restart when data is not received in the second slave node for a predetermined time or longer; transmitting, by the first slave node, the communication error of the second slave node to the master node when data is not received from the second slave node for the predetermined time or longer; and restarting, by the second slave node, communication after the second slave node restarts, wherein when the communication error occurs, a new path for transmitting data is not searched by the mater node or the slave node.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the master node transmits the first data to the second slave node with reference to a routing table configured to store address information on all nodes.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising: receiving the first data from the first slave node by a third slave node; and transmitting, from the third slave node, the first data to the second slave node in a unicast scheme when the second slave node is a child node of the third slave node.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising: generating, by the second slave node, response data with respect to the first data; and transmitting, by the second slave node, the response data, to a parent node of the second slave node in a unicast scheme.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: transmitting, by the second slave node, the response data to the first slave node in a unicast scheme when the parent node of the second slave node is the first slave node; and transmitting, by the first slave node, the response data to the master node being a parent node in the unicast scheme.

10. An air conditioner for a multi-story building, comprising: a plurality of outdoor and indoor units, the plurality of outdoor and indoor units being distributed at a plurality of levels in the multi-story building including the roof and basement; and a controller configured to monitor and control the plurality of outdoor and indoor units, wherein the controller and the plurality of outdoor and indoor units include a communication unit configured to transmit/receive data in a wireless communication scheme, respectively, and wherein one of the plurality of outdoor and indoor units is configured as a master node, and remaining units except for the unit configured as the master node are configured as slave nodes, respectively, so that the slave nodes store information on a parent node and a child node in a routing table to transmit data, and wherein when the master node transmits the data to a target node, among the slave nodes, in a broadcast scheme, the slave node transmits a received data to the parent node or the child node in a unicast scheme when the target node of the received data is the parent node or the child node of the slave node, transmits the received data in a broadcast scheme when the target node of the received data is not the parent node or the child node of the slave node and the received data is not from the child node, and transmits the received data to the parent node in a unicast scheme regardless of whether the target node is the parent node when the received data is received from the child node, wherein the slave nodes store only information of the parent node and the child node without storing information of other nodes in a routing table, wherein when data is not received for a first predetermined time or longer, the slave node determines communication failure to output an error, wherein when the communication failure occurs, the slave node waits for a second predetermined time to turn-off power and restart, wherein after the slave node restarts, the slave node restarts communication, and wherein when the communication failure occurs, a new path for transmitting data is not searched by the mater node or the slave node.